From Russia with Love

At the time,before Ian Fleming's death,the movies used to follow -roughly- the books.But of course they (the novels ) were watered -down. My favorite chapter was the scene in Rosa Klebb's office :Tatiana is intrigued to know why her boss has sent for her;she's asked very indiscreet questions about her(very) private life and she's offered a chocolate she finds hard to swallow (Fleming's depiction is priceless).But the second part of the chapter was totally ruled out by the scenarists: Klebb puts on a hideous negligé and makes advances to scared Tatiana ...who takes to her heels.The poor girl thinks her final hour has come,but nothing happens.

Lotte Lenya is an excellent Rosa Klebb,she's exactly as Fleming wanted her to be ,even if she does not show her lesbian side.Daniela Bianchi is a gorgeous Bond girl.Martine Beswick,who would play a small part (Paula Caplan) in "Thunderball" plays one of the wrestling gypsies.Robert Shaw is one of the best villains of the series.And of course Sean Connery will remain the best Bond of all time.All the other ones cannot hold a candle to him.

At the time,the Bond were getting better and better since "Russia" was superior to "Dr No' and is ,IMHO,itself inferior to "Goldfinger".It was not to last.